T.J. Miller biography

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From voicing a dragon slayer in an animated children's hit to playing an arrogant pothead, T.J. Miller has put his remarkable range on fine display through several roles.

Born Todd Joseph Miller in Denver, he is the son of a clinical psychologist and an attorney. He attended East High School and then enrolled in college in Washington D.C., where he followed in his mother's footsteps and graduated with a degree in psychology.

After college, T.J. moved to Chicago where he began performing with various improv teams. He also started performing standup, and eventually toured with Chicago's Second City.

He won his first on-screen role in the short-lived comedy series Carpoolers, appearing in all 13 episodes of the show, which ran from 2007 to 2008.

T.J. earned his first film part in 2008 with the sci-fi horror flick Cloverfield. He plays Hudson 'Hud' Platt alongside Mike Vogel and Lizzy Caplan, and followed that effort with a role in the 2009 comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard next to Jeremy Piven and Ving Rhames. In 2009, he also appeared in the comedic TV movie Waiting to Die.

One of T.J.'s biggest roles to date came with the HBO Golden Globe-nominated comedy series Silicon Valley, which he began work on in 2014. Portraying Erlich Bachman, a slovenly pothead who thinks he's a tech star, he shared the screen with Thomas Middleditch and Josh Brener. For his superb performance, he nabbed the 2015 Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and was again nominated in the same category in 2016.

He told HBO in an interview that the element of his Silicon Valley character people were surprised most about was Erlich's facial hair. He said there were "overwhelming, polarizing opinions" that "split the country."

T.J. brought Tuffnut back to the screen in 2015 with the animated series Dragons: Race to the Edge, reuniting once again with America Ferrera and Jay Baruchel.

T.J., who has studied at the British American Drama Academy in London and learned how to be a Shakespearean clown while in England, met his spouse Kate Miller while performing a musical in university. The two wed in September 2015.

He credits his high school drama teacher Melody Duggan for the majority of his success, and even mentioned her in his Critics' Choice Award acceptance speech. In February 2016, Melody told NPR that T.J. "understands the frailty of the human condition better than any kid I've ever had" and that he "was absolutely fearless."